musings

Artists Re_Solve Artists ReSolve addresses the divisions intensifying in the United States and brought into focus by the recent presidential election. The site gives artists– writers, dancers, visual artists, performers, composers, etc.– a platform to connect and collaborate in response to the current environment. Working with another person through a creative process can spark curiosity, critique, and new re_solutions towards a common good.Artists Resolve put out a call to artists who wanted to respond to the current political situation by collaborating with another artist. It seemed like a good opportunity to engage with someone outside my usual circle and to use art in a more direct political statement. I responded to their solicitation to collaborate and was paired with the wonderful story teller, poet, and teacher who lives in Hawaii, yet travels the world sharing her knowledge, passions and good vibes, Kimberly Dark. We spoke by phone and she sent me three poems that I would interpret visually. I had at first thought that it would be fun and politically relevant to do a joint online action in support of Planned Parenthood. My wish was to find a way to invite people to donate to the organization and 'honor' Mike Pence who supported a nefarious bill that would defund Planned Parenthood and used his position to break a tie in the Senate.

I responded to their solitation to collaborate and was paired with the wonderful story teller, poet, and teacher who travels the world sharing her knowledge, passions and good vibes., Kimberly Dark. We spoke by phone and she sent me three poems that I would interpret visually. I had at first thought that it would be fun and politically relevant to do a joint online action in support of Planned Parenthood. My wish was to find a way to invite people to donate to the organization and 'honor' Vice President Mike Pense who had just broken a tie in the Senate, in support of a nefarious bill that would defund Planned Parenthood.

When I received the poems, I chose this one. It spoke to me of the way in which beauty is made significant when it becomes part of collective action-- in this case political action.

My thinking about the poem and imagery.how could your loveliness matter?Become part of the sparkling crowd.By becoming engaged, joining with others, being part of humankind, by acting. And here I took the liberty of deciding to act on behalf of Planned Parenthood, both because Mike Pence had just broke the tie and it was being unfunded, And because the poem seemed to be about women, about you and me, and us. AND I wanted to use pink in the piece, a color that I almost never use in my work about water and land, with earth and azure colors. Your action is part of you when you engage with others, like breathing, but takes work (sweating pretty)Placing your beauty –- into the humming, chaotic, breathing earth, stormy I envisioned the sea as a chaotic hurricane – the background images are of hurricane Sandy, which hit the East coast two years ago. And from another storm in the oceans.The individual self is small (irrelevant, insignificant) and doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things -- nature, the universe, however it’s defined, but becomes meaningful in action, commitment.resplendent in my insignificance. I changed the last line to 'resplendent ...[in] significance'